Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a second Nordstrom's shoe store opened in 1923. The growing Nordstrom Best chain began selling clothing in 1963, and became the Nordstrom full-line retailer that presently exists by 1971. The company founded its off-price Nordstrom Rack division in 1973, and grew both full-line and off-price divisions throughout the United States in the following years. The full-line division competes with department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, while the off-price division competes with retailers including the TJX Companies and Ross Stores. Previous expansions beyond the contiguous United States include Puerto Rico (2015–2020) and Canada (2014–2023).
Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids and various others. The company was founded in 1948; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area.
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items or products.
Hamleys of London Limited, trading as Hamleys, is a British multinational toy retailer, owned by Reliance Retail. Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" in High Holborn, London, in 1760. It moved to its current site on Regent Street in London's West End in 1881. This flagship store is set over seven floors, with more than 50,000 lines of toys on sale. It receives around five million visitors each year.
Consumers Distributing was a catalogue store in Canada and the United States that operated from 1957 to 1996. At its peak, the company operated 243 outlets in Canada and 217 in the United States, including stores in every province in Canada and in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California and Nevada.
Argos Limited is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and formerly in Ireland, acquired by Sainsbury's supermarket chain in 2016. It was established in November 1972 and is named after the Greek city of Argos. The company trades both through physical shops and online, with 29 million yearly shop customers, and nearly a billion online visitors per annum. It has also franchised overseas to countries such as China.
A store-within-a-store, also referred to as store-in-store or shop-in-shop, refers to a space within a larger retail store, designated for use by a specific brand to feature its products, clearly branded with signs and other branding elements like color, materials, layout, etc. Such a space may be a section of the main area of the store, or it may have the form of an enclosed store with "walls" an entrance, much like a store in a shopping mall.
Habitat is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group.
Winners Merchants International L.P is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. Its market niche is similar to the American store TJ Maxx, and it is a partnered retailer to department stores HomeSense and Marshalls.
Printemps is a French chain of department stores with a focus on beauty, lifestyle, fashion, accessories, and men's wear. Its flagship store, known in French as "le Printemps Haussmann", is located on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, along with other well-known department stores like the Galeries Lafayette. Since 2013, the company has been the property of a Luxembourg-based Qatari-backed investment fund, Divine Investments SA.
Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer. With over 2,080 stores in 78 countries and regions (2023), it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world.
Arthur Barnett Ltd, trading as Arthur Barnett and often referred to as Arthur Barnett's, was a department store in Dunedin, New Zealand. Established in 1903 by Arthur Barnett the store first began as a drapery for men and boys, progressing over the years to become one of Dunedin's most successful department stores. As well as their flagship George Street store, Arthur Barnett had stores in Balclutha, Alexandra, Oamaru, and Christchurch. They also briefly had a branch in Melbourne which operated from 1970 to 1977. This branch sold mainly carpeting and furniture. The final Arthur Barnett store and its online store was taken over by Invercargill-based department store chain H & J Smith in 2015.
Briscoe Group is a New Zealand retail chain. It has 92 stores throughout New Zealand trading under the Briscoes Homeware (48) and Rebel Sport (44) nameplates. The company was founded in 1861 in Dunedin, New Zealand, providing wares to gold miners. Profit in 2022 was $88.4 million. It has 2,300 staff in 90 stores.
Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990. It once sold most items at the single price of £1, including clearance items and proprietary brands. The first pilot store opened in December 1990 following numerous rejections by landlords who had reservations about allowing a single-price store to operate, fearing it could adversely affect the local competition. An estimated 7 million customers shopped in Poundland every week in 2016, many being female shoppers in the C1, C2, D and E categories. Following a drop in share price of over 50%, Poundland was acquired in August 2016 by Steinhoff International for £610 million.
Superdrug Stores plc is a health and beauty retailer in the United Kingdom, and the second largest behind Boots UK. The company is owned by AS Watson Limited which is part of the A.S. Watson Group. It was acquired as part of the buyout of Kruidvat BV in October 2002. The A.S Watson Group is itself part of the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings.
Nakajima USA, Inc., is an American toy manufacturer, founded in 2000. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nakajima Japan, a family run company founded in 1919. A seasoned company in the design and manufacture of licensed plush, collectible and seasonal toys and gifts, Nakajima USA currently produces and distributes a wide range of lifestyle products under a master license agreement for Sanrio Inc. as well as the company’s signature characters.
Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. was an American golf specialty retailer based in Austin, Texas. Each store, along with golfsmith.com, housed a wide selection of golf clubs, shoes, apparel, gadgets and gear from all the major brands as well as proprietary offerings. They also offered custom club fitting, lessons and services for golfers.
Off-price is a trading format based on discount pricing. Off-price retailers are independent of manufacturers and buy large volumes of branded goods directly from them. The off-price retail model relies on the purchase of over-produced, or excess, branded goods at a lower price, thus being able to sell to consumers at a discount compared to other stores which purchased an initial run. Among the largest retailers of this type are TJX Companies and Ross Stores. The model is more common in countries that import fashion-oriented or household goods, as the discount role in producer countries is usually filled by factory outlets or small-scale open-air marketplaces.
Edgars is a Johannesburg-based chain of stores present all over Southern Africa. The department store was previously selling clothing, shoes, homeware & beauty and under new leadership has recently shifted its focus to mass-market fashion and beauty products.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
